SOURCE: Appelfeld, Aharon. “Between Shelter and Home.” Modern Hebrew Literature 14 (spring-summer 1995): 9-11.

In the following essay, Appelfeld disputes other critics who say that Agnon exemplifies the “sacred” in Judaism vs. the “profane” of secularism, asserting that Agnon had a more holistic approach which combined both tradition and change.

It has become commonplace to describe Agnon's writings as representing the tension between the sacred and the profane, or as the critics put it, between the traditional and the secular. In other words, between the polar opposites that were deeply rooted in the souls of the writer and his contemporaries. This interpretation of his work was first proposed more than half a century ago, and was spread enthusiastically by Baruch Kurzweil: Agnon of the traditional-patristic world, versus the secularized, sceptical Agnon, striving to bridge the unbridgeable.

This interpretation appeared to be grounded in Agnon's writings. It seemed especially evident in...